What You Can See
by TigerDemonX52
Summary: Ever since the death of her mother, ordinary girl Lucy Heartfilia refused to see any magic in the world. Will she meet someone, or something, that could possibly change that? One-shot. Rated T to be safe for minor language.


**Okay, so I wrote this story for my creative composition class and then I realized that it fit a little bit too well with Natsu and Lucy and my jaw dropped. So I just figured, "What the hell, I'll post it." I'm curious what you guys think of it. Read, review and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters, all of those rights go to Hiro Mashima!**

"Did you hear?" one of the girls in my class whispered to her friend as the bell rung. "They say that they discovered proof that Bigfoot exists!"

I inwardly groaned. _You have got to be kidding me._

"Yeah!" her friend whispered back excitedly. "Some scientists found some really huge human type tracks! They couldn't have come from anything else!"

Rolling my eyes in annoyance, I stood up to leave for the day as I mumbled a, "Says you."

Sadly, they heard me because they glared at me and squeaked, "Excuse me?"

Stopping and spinning around, my bag draped over my shoulder, I met their eyes. "Bigfoot doesn't exist; none of those fairy tale creatures from children's books exist. They're just stories that our ancestors made up and they were just passed down through the generations. Seriously, next you'll be telling me Santa Clause and the Easter bunny are real."

"You have no proof that they aren't real," one of them shot back.

"Yeah, and you have no proof that they are," I groaned. "Finding a foot print means nothing if no one can prove what made it." With that I stormed out of the class room, the girls' loud yelling following after me.

Magic? Please, I couldn't believe how blind some people were. How could something be real if you never see or touch it? Believing in those types of things only fools us into creating a delusion. We can wish all we want for something only to have it all shattered like glass. I refused to be lied to and to believe in what isn't there!

I wasn't…going to go through that again.

My mom used to tell me that everyone has an unseen guardian, a guardian angel if you will. However, they weren't always angels. She used to tell me stories; stories of fairies, gryphons, any mythical creature you could ever imagine, and being the child I was, I believed every word of it.

Even today, I can still hear her voice. _This world is too big to be so black and white_, he would tell me. _There has to be something gray that no one sees. _The last time I heard those words, I was seven and I was crying into hospital bed sheets as she said her final words. I was fourteen now, and the pain of losing her never went away. Even after all of this time, I still feel empty.

So, I don't believe in anything anymore. My world is strictly black and white.

Slowly making my way down the sidewalk towards my house, a loud rustling noise stopped me dead in my tracks. The bushes next to me were shaking violently; much too hard for it to be a squirrel and part of me thought I should run for fear that it might've been a wolf. There were many animals that inhabited the woods surrounding my small town; I wouldn't be really surprised if one got closer than anticipated. However, as I sat and stared, my curiosity soon won over fear and I pushed the branches aside.

My eyes widened at what I saw sitting in the dirt; a medium sized animal, maybe the size of a golden retriever, with red, shining scales for skin. It had a long snout with two tiny, white things that looked like horns coming out of its head. As it looked up at me with large, slanted, onyx eyes, it wrapped its spiky tail protectively around itself.

The creature locked eyes with me, staring at me like it was looking into my soul, and I couldn't look away. What was it? I had never seen anything like it in my life. It was definitely a reptile, but its legs looked much longer than an alligator's, plus, its head was too narrow.

Suddenly, a single word formed in my head, a word that felt so foreign to me that I could only growl it through gritted teeth. "Dragon."

The creature blinked at the word like it had understood and before I could stop myself, I reached out to touch it in a state of absolute awe. How could this be? How could a dragon just appear in front of me? They weren't supposed to exist!

My fingers made contact with its warm, rough scales and I could feel the creature relax at my touch, still keeping its eyes locked on mine. This made absolutely no sense.

The creature got to its feet, making me flinch and back away for fear that it would attack me. I was actually shocked it didn't when I suddenly touched it. Why didn't it anyway?

It remained calm as it stood at its full height, which was only to about my stomach, and stared at me like it was examining me. It looked almost… curious, even cocking its head to the side to see me from a new angle. Despite my situation, even I couldn't help but wonder what it was looking for. What did it see? What was it like, looking through the eyes of a myth?

That's when I noticed its wings for the first time, large, leathery skin attached to its body by very thin bones. But something looked off; the skin was shredded into ribbons. It was injured, and yet it let me touch it. Why?

"U-Um," I said aloud, hoping that it would ease some of the tension I felt in the air. "H-Here." I quickly went to dig through my back pack and pulled my hands out with a few pieces of cloth I used for fashion design class. There wasn't much of it, but it would do the job. "Let me help you."

_Now why am I talking to it_, I thought sighing to myself. I must've lost my mind. But I couldn't just leave it injured like that.

I slowly inched closer with the cloth in my hands, my arms were down and my eyes never left the dragon's slanted ones. I was trying to show it that I wasn't a threat but it took a hesitant step back anyway.

"It's okay," I cooed, getting a little closer. "I'm not going to hurt you, I swear."

When I got close enough, it just continued to stare at me, although I could've sworn I saw steam coming from its nostrils as it calmly breathed in and out.

I hesitantly brought a hand up to touch its wing and it flinched as I made contact but stood still after that. Beginning to wrap the cloth around the injured wing, I realized that it was very small for a creature that was supposed to be huge. Was it just a baby? I finished making a sling for the wing and as soon as my hands left its skin, the dragon began flapping it wildly in the air.

"H-Hey!" I yelled, worried that it would hurt itself further. "Stop it, you'll make it worse!"

Surprisingly enough, it listened to me and stopped beating the injured wing, slowly calming itself and staring back at me.

_Okay_, I thought, completely freaked out of my mind. _This is…weird…_

A glint of light caught my eye and my focus snapped to a small, silver chain wrapped around the dragon's neck. The chain shined in the limited sunlight and I had to ask myself why I hadn't noticed it sooner. Well, there_ was_ a dragon standing in front of me, chains take second priority.

Looking closer, I saw a small piece of white, rolled up paper hanging out of one of the chain links. _And this day just continues to get weirder._

Hesitantly, I walked to the reptile and removed the paper, its slanted eyes still watching me. As I unrolled it, the words, "Dear My Shining Star," were the first to come into view and my heart literally dropped into my stomach. No, this couldn't be. Only one person has ever called me her star, to everyone else it was just Lucy.

"Mom," I whispered, still only staring at those words in shock before my brows creased in anger. How could this be? Was it some kind of trick? Better yet, why is this dragon delivering it? As my hands shook, I wanted to rip up this stupid piece of paper, burn it and then bury the ashes. However, something held me back.

Was…it really her?

Taking a quick breath, I unrolled the rest of the paper and read.

_Dear My Shining Star,_

_I know that by the time you read this, I'll probably be gone. And I know that you must be grieving. But even though I am not there with you, one thing will never change and that is that I love you very much. Remember how I had told you about everyone having a hidden guardian? Well now, I am introducing you to yours. This little, scaly guy is Natsu, and I know that he'll take a liking to you. _

That's when I felt tears begin to make their way down my cheeks. She didn't sign her name, but then again, she really didn't need to. Mom… Why? Why am I getting this now? And what does she want from me, to take care of this dragon? Am I just supposed to take it home like a lost puppy or something? And how, in the name of all that is good in the world, did she find a freaking baby dragon?

Mentioned creature of my inner turmoil looked at me in confusion, his slanted eyes looking me over above his long snout. I decided then, this just couldn't be real and I was too emotional. So I grit my teeth, whispered an apology under my breath and ran, my heart pounding against my rib cage as tears threatened to fall down my face.

Ten agonizing minutes later, I arrived at my house, sprinting up the porch stairs and slamming the front door behind me. My back pressed against the door and I slid down until I was sitting, my arms wrapping around my legs as I shook.

_What do I do mom_, I thought. _I'm just…so confused. And I miss you so much._

_Scratch, scratch, scratch_. My head snapped up and I gasped. What was that? I slowly pressed my ear against the door and it came again. _Scratch, scratch, scratch._ Oh, that couldn't be good.

Standing up and peering out of the peephole, my jaw dropped to the floor. The red dragon was standing out there on my porch, in plain view of anyone who would happen to walk by. I instantly flung the door open and panicked, yanking the dragon inside and out of view of the public. Probably not the best decision on my part, but my dad wasn't home so at least I had time to come up with something.

I kneeled in front of him and yelled, "What are you doing here?" He didn't even seem to hear me and looked around the living room. "Hey, I know you can understand me," I said annoyed. "At least somewhat." Still no response.

Ugh, stubborn little… what was his name again? "Natsu?" The dragon's eyes snapped back to mine and it almost looked like it was smiling. Now that I had his attention, I tried again. "What are you doing h-"

My sentence was cut off by a loud growl radiating out from the dragon's stomach and despite the situation, I almost started laughing. I settled for a small smile instead as I sighed, "Hungry?" He suddenly became a large dragon bobble head and there was no doubt in my mind that he could understand every single word that came out of my mouth.

"Come on," I mumbled, walking into the kitchen and pulling a large, raw steak out of the fridge.

As I held the raw piece of meat in front of his face, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and it was almost comical. Here was a dragon sitting in the middle of my kitchen and he was begging for food like a puppy. It was…cute.

_No Lucy, snap out of it_, I mentally snapped at myself. _You can't keep him! Dad flipped a couple months ago when you asked him for a dog. This is clearly not a dog, it's ten times worse._

I sighed again and threw Natsu the steak, washed my hands, then sat down at the table to think. Black and white. My world was supposed to be black and white. This… definitely wasn't. I still couldn't even believe there was a dragon in my house. But actually what made me the most confused was the fact that I wasn't afraid of him at all. I literally felt like he could've been my pet. God, I was such a hypocrite.

A large amount of weight appeared on my lap and I looked to see Natsu's head laying there, his eyes glinting up at me as if asking what was wrong.

I didn't believe, I thought I _couldn't _believe anymore and yet… why did I feel so comfortable with this? Slowly, I brought my hand to the top of his scaly head and ran my fingers over his tiny, white horns. The baby dragon let out a purr of approval. I could see him, I could _touch_ him. This was real.

Dragons existed because there was one right in front of me and despite what my mom's motives might have been, I actually had to admit; today she broadened my world a little bit. As much as I hate to admit it, maybe…maybe some forms of magic existed after all.

Taking a deep breath, I looked down at Natsu one last time before I shut my eyes and thought, _I…I'll keep him._

**Thanks for reading!**


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